I just cross posted in someone else's topic but thought this was important enough to call out independently if you are having the MSFS won't load issues:

All of a sudden after the last Win10 update I am in the same boat and MSFS will no longer load.  

Tried getting updates from the store, none available, signing in and out of the store and XBox, repairing, removing Community, no luck.  

Last time I flew was Sunday, shut down and all was fine and today I can't even load it.   

Frustrating

Then I looked down and noticed my system clock was off.  I have it set to Set Automatically, adjust automatically, all those settings but Holy cow it was my System Clock!!! 

It must have been off from Daylight savings time and while it is 4:15 est my clock had 5:15 est.   I adjusted the clock and MSFS launched automatically because I had tried to launch it but it wouldn't load until the time was correct! 

So if anyone runs into MSFS not launching and you've tried all the other steps, check you system clock!!  

Edited March 15, 20242 yr by psolk

I have had some other software issues in the past related to the system clock hehe.  Thanks for the reminder!

2 hours ago, psolk said:

All of a sudden after the last Win10 update I am in the same boat and MSFS will no longer load.  

exactly same happened to me after a recent windows11 update. thanks for pointing this out. incorrect date/time settings can also affect other software that check your credentials and pc security as well.

Edited March 15, 20242 yr by turbomax

4 hours ago, psolk said:

Then I looked down and noticed my system clock was off.  I have it set to Set Automatically, adjust automatically, all those settings but Holy cow it was my System Clock!!! 

Has happened to me in the past.. but amazing how easy it is to forget when it happens again! 🙂

i have  to check this  when i revert  back in  time  when  our  daylight  saving finishes  which is  in a couple  weeks  time

I use this PC app that resets the exact time on every system boot up because Windows does not seem to update the time correctly.

http://www.thinkman.com/dimension4/

 

 

Thanks for this reminder, I have had this issue in the past.

I wish this had been the solution to my MSFS not starting.It's been working fine but I came back to it after a few days just now and tried to start via Addons Linker as usual. Nothing, except FSLTL started with the delay I have it set to in Addons Linker. So I tried via the shortcut on my taskbar. Still nothing. I checked there was nothing to update in MS Store, but nothing at that point in time. So I fired up the Xbox app but it said there was an error with updating it, even though it wasn't updating in the Store. Signing out and back into the Store, even with a PC restart didn't work either, but now it showed updates 'pending' for both Xbox and Gaming Services, so I cleared the MS Store cache (Run CMD as Administrator, type WSReset.exe and enter) and now I have Gaming Services stuck on 'Downloading' and Xbox stuck on 'Starting Download'.🤬

 

What's with all these different startup problems people are having all of a sudden?

 

Now Gaming Services has been 'Checking Product Files' then 'Calculating Download Size' then 'Nearly Ready' and is back to 'Downloading'! Meanwhile, if I try to cancel the Xbox download, it just changes to 'Acquiring licence'. I can't actually cancel either download, at least not without restarting the PC again.😶

 

Edit: Now Gaming Services shows as '195.0kb downloaded' despite the fact the progress circle next to it has never moved. And seconds later, it's back to 'Downloading'.😡

Edited March 17, 20242 yr by 109Sqn

This is the error I get when starting up the Xbox app:

Reinstalling the app doesn't solve the issue. The error code just suggests a) checking Xbox Status [which is all ok] or b) "Waiting a while and trying again".🙄

 

I once solved a similar problem that I couldn't fix otherwise using the REPAIR method: Settings/Apps/Microsoft Flight Simulator/Repair or perhaps as a last resort RESET

Interestingly, after uninstalling Gaming Services, it's actually re-installed quicker, albeit taking over a minutes for such a small app. MS Store has decided to check for updates by itself and the blue button is spinning... and spinning... and spinning...🤯 And finally it stops after a couple of minutes.

So... if a repair of MSFS doesn't work, and the Xbox app fails to update/start up fully, my next step will probably be my own advice to others when they can't update or start the sim - a Windows repair using the 'Create New Media' method.

Edited March 17, 20242 yr by 109Sqn
typo - 'or', not 'os'

10 minutes ago, turbomax said:

I once solved a similar problem that I couldn't fix otherwise using the REPAIR method: Settings/Apps/Microsoft Flight Simulator/Repair or perhaps as a last resort RESET

Thanks, but as you can see from what I was typing as you posted that, I've been trying that too.😔 I don't know how long it is supposed to take (bearing in mind the size of the sim) but it seems to get just over halfway along the progress bar then seems to stop.

 

Of course, it finished just as I posted.😄 Since my taskbar shortcut disappeared after that, I tried launching by typing 'flight' into the start menu but after about 5 seconds of blue circle spinning, nothing happened. Same if I try from Addons Linker. I'll restart the PC, try once more time to launch the sim and do a Windows repair if it doesn't launch.

Edited March 17, 20242 yr by 109Sqn

A restart and MS Store again wants to update Gaming Services, which again sticks on 'pending', followed eventually by ages on 'Downloading' and 'Starting Download'. So a Windows repair it it then since Xbox and/or Gaming Services stopping MSFS from working are usually fixed with this method. 🤞

5 minutes ago, 109Sqn said:

Xbox and/or Gaming Services stopping MSFS from working are usually fixed with this method. 🤞

true. I ended up restoring a recent backup image of my Windows partition, that took only some 20 minutes and everything was back to normal.

Here I go, wish me luck...